Manga Review - Ana Satsujin - A Tale of the Tragic Love of Murder and Suicide

This manga caught my eye when I was browsing through horror mangas to read because of the manga's front cover image. I always have a liking for the horror genre, especially if it is psychological horror. The numerous ideas from these stories really peeked my interest and the human mind is very interesting to me - how it reacts to horrors, how we adapt, why some people can handle the emotional/psychological traumas from traumatic experiences. This manga however does not satisfy any of these requirements. I personally found this manga very boring and the story wasn't particularly interesting. The story involves "love story" of two individuals - a serial killer who has an insatiable thirst of killing people and a person who wants to commit suicide.

Story (5/10):

There were a couple of flaws many flaws in the story. The first complication was the serial killer's motive to "only kill criminals", but as we progress through the manga, we see her murder innocent people, who were just there at the wrong place, at the wrong time. One can perhaps justify that it was just her telling a "lie" about her killings and also is a form to prevent anyone from discovering her true identity. If so, why even state that "she only kill criminals"? Why not just blatantly label her as a serial killer who kills for fun? I think the author wanted to make the serial killer's actions more justifiable, but unfortunately these were invalidated through the actions of the killer. 

Another serious flaw I found in the story is when Kurosu "kills" Rio because she is presumably shot dead (which we later know is not true). From the manga, it seemed like she was killed and there was blood splurting everywhere. One possible justification is that Kurosu was so distraught that he remembered incorrectly. If so, why did he spend time in jail if she was alive? For attempted murder? The story tells us that he is in jail for murdering her, but she is alive (just lost memories). This serious flaw bugs me still. 

The last main complication was the ending sequence, where everyone was just killed in one chapter. I feel a bit conflicted about this chapter. It felt so cheap to kill off all the characters/"insane" people, but then again the manga was so dissatisfying that I felt indifferent about it. However one "twist" is perhaps the revelation of Rio and Kurosu's child. I didn't really expect that, but then again it ties in with the end of the story and the cycle of murder and suicide continues once more...

Characters (5/10):

Rio, the serial killer, is not very special. She just kills for fun even though she says "she only kills criminals" (which is not true). However, I think that it suits the character (to have a psycho killer instead of a justifiable killer) in this manga. Kurosu, the one who wants to commit suicide, progresses well throughout the manga. His state of mind fluctuates, from suicidal, happy, maniacal, and that probably describes how the suicidal mind thinks. The other side characters are not that interesting because they weren't fully developed/just killed off in a sad way.

Art (6/10):

Nothing much to say. The art is ok, but it's not spectacular. But then again, this manga is about raw murder so it can't be super spectacular. However, there are other horror mangas which have tonnes of detail in the murders (e.g. Deathtopia, Kamisama No Iutoori, Eden No Ori).

Enjoyment (5/10):

I kinda wanted to drop this manga midway, but I always believe that once something is started, one should see it through, no matter how bad it is. Was it enjoyable? Not really. But what is so bad that I regret picking this up? No. There were some good moments in the manga, but generally it is mediocre.

Overall (5/10):

Ana Satsujin attempts to tackle society's silent killers (murder and suicide). These are two sides of the coins and I commend the author on developing this idea because it's a win-win situation for a person who likes to murder and a person who wants to commit suicide. However, there were just too many flaws in the story to make the manga enjoyable to read, and for that, I would probably not recommend this manga to anyone.